Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1038/ncomms13965
Title (Primary) Ecological networks are more sensitive to plant than to animal extinction under climate change
Author Schleuning, M.; Fründ, J.; Schweiger, O.; Welk, E.; Albrecht, J.; Albrecht, M.; Beil, M.; Benadi, G.; Blüthgen, N.; Bruelheide, H.; Böhning-Gaese, K.; Dehling, D.M.; Dormann, C.F.; Exeler, N.; Farwig, N.; Harpke, A.; Hickler, T.; Kratochwil, A.; Kuhlmann, M.; Kühn, I. ORCID logo ; Michez, D.; Mudri-Stojnić, S.; Plein, M.; Rasmont, P.; Schwabe, A.; Settele, J.; Vujić, A.; Vujic, A.; Weiner, C.N.; Wiemers, M. ORCID logo ; Hof, C.
Source Titel Nature Communications
Year 2016
Department CLE; BZF; iDiv
Volume 7
Page From art. 13965
Language englisch
Keywords Climate-change ecologyCommunity ecologyEcological modellingEcological networks
UFZ wide themes RU1;
Abstract Impacts of climate change on individual species are increasingly well documented, but we lack understanding of how these effects propagate through ecological communities. Here we combine species distribution models with ecological network analyses to test potential impacts of climate change on >700 plant and animal species in pollination and seed-dispersal networks from central Europe. We discover that animal species that interact with a low diversity of plant species have narrow climatic niches and are most vulnerable to climate change. In contrast, biotic specialization of plants is not related to climatic niche breadth and vulnerability. A simulation model incorporating different scenarios of species coextinction and capacities for partner switches shows that projected plant extinctions under climate change are more likely to trigger animal coextinctions than vice versa. This result demonstrates that impacts of climate change on biodiversity can be amplified via extinction cascades from plants to animals in ecological networks.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=18263
Schleuning, M., Fründ, J., Schweiger, O., Welk, E., Albrecht, J., Albrecht, M., Beil, M., Benadi, G., Blüthgen, N., Bruelheide, H., Böhning-Gaese, K., Dehling, D.M., Dormann, C.F., Exeler, N., Farwig, N., Harpke, A., Hickler, T., Kratochwil, A., Kuhlmann, M., Kühn, I., Michez, D., Mudri-Stojnić, S., Plein, M., Rasmont, P., Schwabe, A., Settele, J., Vujić, A., Vujic, A., Weiner, C.N., Wiemers, M., Hof, C. (2016):
Ecological networks are more sensitive to plant than to animal extinction under climate change
Nat. Commun. 7 , art. 13965 10.1038/ncomms13965